Business English/Slang

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A Ambulance chaser:			An unskilled and unethical lawyer. B Ball park:	A baseball term: To estimate how close something is to an accurate number. If something is in the ball park it is close enough to be acceptable. Basement Betty:			A woman that runs a business from her home. Belt tightening:				To reduce expenses. To save money. Bite the bullet:				To make a difficult decision. (a) Bitter pill to swallow:	To receive bad news. To hear something you don’t want to hear. Bottom line:	The truth behind what is being said. Being honest even if other people do not want to hear it. Brownie points:		Receiving credit for a good deed or giving a compliment. C Cash cow:	A product or service that creates a lot of money without much investment. (to) cash in:	To make money from or to benefit from financial or social investment. (to) Climb the corporate ladder:	To get promoted. To move upwards in the organization. Crunch time	A short period of time when there is a lot of work to do and a lot of responsibility. D Didn’t go over well:	When a plan or activity did not happen as planned and was not successful. (a) Dog eat dog world:	A mean and tough world where people only help themselves. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s:	Check your work. Pay attention to the details. Down to the wire:	Working to the last minute. To finish just before the deadline. (to) Drum up business:	To find new customers. (to) Face the music:	To admit there is a problem. To prepare for disciplinary action. E Egg on the face:	When something embarrassing happens to a person. When a person looks foolish. Elevator pitch:	A very short speech that explains yourself or your product in less than ten seconds. F Fast track:				To speed up a project. To give something a higher priority. Fly by the seat of your pants:	To do something without any planning and just react to what is happening. G Glitch:	A mistake or when something is not working correctly. This usually refers to a piece of technology. Golden parachute:	When a high member of management is fired and is given a very generous severance package. Gut feeling	An instinct or intuition that makes you expect how something will happen. H Hard sell:                                       	 Pushing hard to sell a product or service that is usually difficult to sell. (to) Have a lot on your plate:	To have a lot of work to do. To have a lot of responsibilities. Heads will roll:	An expression that means people will be disciplined harshly for a mistake. This may mean people will be fired. I I hear you:				I understand. J (to) Jump the gun:			To start something too soon or to begin before everyone else. K (to) Keep your eye on the prize:		To stay focused on the final results of a plan or project. (to) Keep it under wraps:		To keep a secret. To not tell other people about something. (to) Kick the bucket:	When something like a machine or a project is finished. It is used to suggest that something has died. L Lateralled:	A lateral transfer. To move to a new position without moving up or down the organization’s ranking. People often take lateral transfers to learn new skills. Lemon:	A product, usually a car, which has a problem and does not work properly. M N O Off the top of my head:			To think up ideas without and planning time. On the tip of my tongue:		When you know a word but can’t remember how to say it Out in left field:	A baseball term. To not understand what is happening. To not pay attention. Out of the loop:	To not understand what is happening because a person is not involved in the proper communications. P Page:					To call someone over the phone system in the office. (to) pass the buck:			To blame someone else for a problem or mistake. Playing ball:	A baseball term: Cooperating with clients and associates. Working together to complete a task. Playing hardball:		A baseball term. To get mean and tough. (to) Plug (a product):		To talk positively about a product socially (to) Pull the plug:		To stop or kill a project. (to) Pull your weight:		To do your share of the work. (at a) Premium:				To buy or sell something at the best price. (to) Push the envelope:		To move faster, work harder and do better than expected. Q R (to) Rally the troops:	To motivate the people around you. To energize people for a better performance. Reality check:	To think about how something will really work or if it will not work at all. Right off the bat:			A baseball term. To start something immediately. Right on target:				When a plan or activity happens perfectly. S (to) Scale back:	To reduce the number of something. This could be the number of hours worked, the number of employees, the amount of money paid in salaries, etc. (to)Shake on it:				Making a promise with a handshake. Show him/her the door:			To get rid of someone. To fire a person. Slam Dunk:				A basketball term: When something is perfect. (the) Squeaky wheel gets the grease:	Bringing attention to a problem so people will work to fix it. Stay on your toes:			Be careful. Be ready for trouble. (to) Step up to the plate:	A baseball term. This term is now often shortened so people will say ‘to step up.’ It means to take on a challenge, to do your best or to volunteer. T Temp:	A temporary worker. Someone that is hired by a staffing agency for a short time. Through the roof:	Numbers are higher than expected. U Use some elbow grease: 		To work hard to get something done. V

W (to) wear many hats:	To have different jobs and responsibilities in one or more organization. (to) Wing it:	To explain something without any planning. This could be giving a speech or explaining an idea. (the) Whole nine yards:	A football term: To ‘go the whole distance.’  To see a project through from start to end. (to) work out the kinks:	To solve the problems. To make sure something works properly. X Y Yes man:				An employee that always agrees with the boss. Z